As a big-league market, we are 14 years old. We still throw tantrums.

Some of us need to grow up.

An Oct. 2007 playoff game between the Diamondbacks and Rockies was halted for nearly 10 minutes as fans tossed water bottles from the upper deck, along with other debris. The ugly scene was triggered by an interference call on Justin Upton, who barreled into the other team’s second baseman. It was only Game 1 of the series, and the national audience was stunned by our lack of restraint.

Lunatics.

In July 2011, fans reportedly tossed water at a convertible carrying Prince Fielder and his family to Chase Field for All-Star Game festivities. Those fans were stewing over Fielder’s decision to omit Upton from the Home Run Derby, unconcerned that Fielder was traveling with his wife and two young boys at the time.

Fringe.

And just last Tuesday, as the Kings celebrated a series-clinching goal in Glendale, many hockey fans littered the playing surface in disgust. In a new twist, Kings President and General Manager Dean Lombardi actually blamed the Coyotes for inciting poor fan behavior.

“If those guys are acting in that manner toward the officials, it’s a license for the crowd to do the same,” Lombardi told the Los Angeles Times. “What (goalie Mike) Smith did, he threw a stick at an official and then right after that, somebody is throwing a beer can at (Kings coach) Darryl Sutter and our captain (Dustin Brown).

“That’s why Europe (soccer) has that rule. You are responsible for that riot if you are going to show that lack of respect for officials.”

Lombardi’s inference that we are but hooligans – violent, shallow creatures that release misplaced anger at sporting events – is an embellishment. So are accusations that Smith threw his stick at the officials (although Smith slid his stick on the ice in frustration, and earlier, held it aloft like a battle axe).

But his overall point is correct: Fans took their cue from fuming players at the end of Game 5. The crowd behavior reinforced that renegade, reckless image sometimes attached to Arizona and its people. The Western Conference finals became the working model in how to lose without dignity in professional sports. And with stiff penalties surely on the way, you haven’t heard the last of this story just yet.

Those who know the Coyotes have no problem with pardons. The timing was simply awful. The final goal occurred seconds after a controversial hit left a Coyotes player writhing on the ice. A journey that took 25 years was over the blink of an eye, just as the home team was starting to believe in miracles. Those who witnessed Shane Doan’s postgame outburst left with a sense of heartbreak, for what he’s been through, and for what was about to come.

“I bit my tongue the whole playoffs…” he began, lip quivering.

It’s been a lot longer than that.

This past season, the team endured what Doan called the worst travel schedule he’d seen in his career. They were stunned when the NHL suspended Raffi Torres for 25 games, an unprecedented and extreme number. In both cases, the players craved an owner to stand up and call B.S., to lash out at the league, to have their backs.

The Coyotes had nobody. It’s been this way for three years. And when the sudden death seemed like a horrible injustice, Doan broke like a dam. His teammates heard the tirade, taking their cue from the captain.

Just like the fans did a few minutes earlier, following the lead of angry players and flinging objects onto the ice.

From New York to Salt Lake City, these incidents are not rare in sports. They happen everywhere disappointment meets alcohol with a handy projectile nearby.

They happen with small-minded fans in mid-market towns that have grown considerably in a short period of time. They happen with fans who deal with repeated frustration and near misses. They happen with fans carrying a persecution complex, those who actually believe officials are out to get them.

They happen with fans who think their team gets no respect from the league or its commissioner. And then they confirm that perception by throwing objects onto the playing field.

The minority of Arizonans who see themselves in that mirror need to realize our four major professional sports teams have all played in a conference championship game or its equivalent. Three played for a title. One brought home the trophy. In that time, we’ve seen just about everything.

It’s time to start acting like it.

Reach Bickley at dan.bickley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8253. Follow him at twitter.com/danbickley. Listen to “Bickley and MJ” weekdays at 2-6 p.m. on XTRA Sports 910.

NORMAN, Okla. Before the Arizona Wildcats could swing a bat Saturday, the question mark at the end of their “Why Not Us?” mantra was changed to a period. Before they could record their second out, any momentum was quashed.

It took eight Oklahoma batters to make the remainder of an eventual 7-1 super regional victory redundant, if not inevitable.

The Wildcats trailed 5-0 before recording the second out of the game against the Sooners, who hit first as the visiting team at OU Softball Complex.

In four super-regional games the past two years against Sooners ace Keilani Ricketts — all losses, marking the first time since 1986-87 the UA missed the Women’s College World Series in consecutive years — the Wildcats managed to score a total of three runs.

Scoring six runs to win Game 2 of the best-of-three series seemed a Herculean, if not Sisyphean, task for the 38-19 Wildcats — much less doing so and then trying to win the if-necessary game later in the day.

“Before we even got to the plate (Saturday), it was a pretty huge undertaking to try to score five or more against her,” UA coach Mike Candrea said. “I think as an athlete or as a coach, you’re going to fake it until you make it.

“But, in reality, you know it’s tough.”

The way the 50-8 Sooners scored their runs was a familiar, maddening refrain for UA pitcher Kenzie Fowler.

The junior, whose wildness contributed to her demotion to the team’s No. 2 starter two years after starring in the Women’s College World Series, walked Oklahoma’s leadoff batter and allowed her to reach second on a wild pitch.

She allowed an infield single to Destinee Martinez, who stole second, and then another walk to load the bases.

Ricketts singled to left-center to go up 1-0.

Fowler walked the next batter, Jessica Shults, on four pitches to score Oklahoma’s second run.

With the bases still loaded, Fowler hit Erica Sampson on a 1-2 count to go down 3-0.

After Fowler coaxed a forceout at home plate, Katie Norris hit a grounder to third base that went through Brigette Del Ponte’s legs.

Like that, it was 5-0 Sooners.

“That’s one of the things we did talk about, is, ‘Show them that we’re here to win right now, in one game,’” Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso said. “‘Come out attacking — but at the plate, be very patient.’

“Because walks can be as damaging as hits to them.”

Both the five-run deficit and the way they were scored crushed the Wildcats.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Marco Andretti knows how much heartache his family has suffered at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He needs no reminders that IndyCar could use an American superstar, and with his famous last name, he is quite aware of the hope that maybe he can be the one to elevate this attention-starved series.

None of that matters to Andretti as he heads into the Indianapolis 500.

He believes he can win Sunday’s race — “it’s going to be our race to lose,” he said — and he wants it, badly. But Andretti wants it for himself, for his own career, and not because of what it would mean to his family or for IndyCar. Mario Andretti won in 1969, and no Andretti has done it again in 65 starts and many of those races were devastating near-misses.

“That’s not my approach to the event. My approach is I want to win our Super Bowl,” Andretti said. “I put that pressure on myself. I don’t want to do it because he did it and my dad didn’t, that’s all bonus. Do I think we can? You’re darn right.”

The 96th running of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” is the most wide-open race in a very long time. Engine competition for the first time in six years and the introduction of a new car has widened the pool of potential winners, and there’s no clear favorite.

“I think we’re going to see the best race we’ve had in at least a decade,” said Roger Penske, winner of 15 Indy 500s and the team owner of pole-sitter Ryan Briscoe.

Penske is undefeated this season, as Helio Castroneves and points leader Will Power have combined to win the first four races. And with Chevrolet power, Penske drivers have swept all five poles so far this season.

So it seemed to be business as usual on pole day, when Chevrolet clearly had the edge. The team put nine drivers inside the top 10, and all six of the full-time entries were from Penske and Andretti Autosport.

Then came Carb Day, and the Hondas came to life.

Chip Ganassi teammates Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon led the leaderboard, with Andretti landing third on the final speed chart as the fastest Chevy driver.

“Maybe some sandbagging?” Franchitti wondered as Andretti slid into the seat next to him following their final on-track session before the race. “Do you really think we’re all going to show what we can do?”

The return of Chevrolet and addition to Lotus has renewed rivalries this season in IndyCar, and the fight between Chevy and Honda has been on display since the track opened May 9. Chevy lost two appeals in its fight to prevent Honda from getting a new compressor cover for its turbocharger, and the final decision came the day before practice officially opened.

Honda then dominated on the track, particularly Josef Newgarden and Bryan Clauson, the two young American drivers for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing. But there was skepticism that the Chevy teams were simply holding back, and that sure seemed to be the case after qualifying.

There’s been no speculation whatsoever about the two Lotus entries, which have been so far off the pace there have been calls for IndyCar to park Simona de Silvestro and Jean Alesi after the start. The engine is a tremendous handicap to Alesi, the 47-year-old former Formula One driver who has never before raced an IndyCar, never raced on an oval and has been only sporadically racing in anything at all the last several years.

On Friday, his last day in the car before the race, Alesi was clocked at 204.452 mph — almost 10 miles slower than the last non-Lotus car, and a long way off Franchitti’s 222.360.

“The engine is a disaster,” he was picked up saying during the television broadcast of practice. “The engine is really bad.”

Nothing has been bad for Andretti, who has been one of the few constants this month at Indy. He’s been consistently fast, and was thought to be a threat for the pole. He wound up fourth, right behind teammates James Hinchcliffe and Ryan Hunter-Reay.

IndyCar is seeking a new star now that Danica Patrick has fled to NASCAR, and will miss her first Indy 500 since 2005. She was the de facto face of the series, and IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard knows he needs somebody else to step up and fill her void.

He knows that an Andretti win would be a very good thing for the series.

“Wherever you go in the world, Andretti is known in racing,” he said. “This is Marco’s stance. I’ve never seen him so confident. It’s like a new Marco to me.”

But Bernard doesn’t care who wins on Sunday so long as it is a great race with tremendous story lines. He watched on television as Bubba Watson won the Master’s in April, and the golf had him longing for an emotional victory celebration in his series.

The promoter in him craves that spontaneous moment that captures the audience.

“When you’re sitting at home on the couch, or you’re sitting here, you just watched an exhausting 500 miles of a great race, and the drivers get absorbed in it and show their passion,” Bernard said. “These 33 drivers, they have no guarantee they’re going to be in the race next year. This could be their last opportunity to win. That’s the drama. I think that is important to the sport.”

Indy got that emotion last year when JR Hildebrand crashed coming out of the final turn while leading. It opened the door for Dan Wheldon to sail by for his second Indy 500 win, and made for a fascinating display of raw emotion. There was the rookie Hildebrand, devastated but showing how to lose with dignity, and there was Wheldon, ecstatic to have won with a tiny team in a year he did not have a full-time job.

Wheldon was killed five months later in a 15-car accident in the IndyCar season finale, and his presence has been felt at the speedway all month. He’s featured on the race day ticket, his car has been on display and owner Bryan Herta will drive it in a lap of honor before the race.

Fans have been asked to wear white sunglasses during tributes on the parade lap, lap 26 and lap 98, which recognize the numbers of his winning cars, and Wheldon’s wife, Susie, is here.

“He lived for that race, if that was the only race that he could do in the year, then he would do it,” she said. “His family is the most important part of his legacy, so we want to be there to honor him in that way as far as him being last year’s winner and everything about that race that he loved so much. I feel like it’s important for me to be there.”